“The large oecus (5) next to the nuptial bedchamber (4) contains the famous frieze representing the “mysteries” of the Dionysus cult that give the villa its name. The paintings here represent the initiation of a young woman into the mysteries of...

Fresco detail, initiate hiding in the lap of the woman who accompanies her in the various phases of the rite. "[…] it still remains uncertain whether the subject is a woman's initiation into an Orphic or Dionysian mystery cult or rather the...

"Mosaic from the Augustan era that decorated the open triclinium of domus I, 5, 2; it is an allegory of the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures and of the leveling power of death. Below the skull, a butterfly and a wheel evoke the soul and its...

"The excavation unearthed parts of a building, later identified as a porticus triplex (a portico with three arms), with dining rooms and a thermal bath complex. [...] The decoration of the porticus triplex was executed in the Fourth Style and was...

"The center of the north wall is occupied by the flying figure of Apollo with his lyre. The god, crowned with a laurel wreath and wearing a light blue mantle [...]." (p.167); "The excavation unearthed parts of a building, later identified as a...

"The construction technique and decorations of the villa suggest that it must have been built around the middle of the first century B.C. Only about thirty years earlier the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla had conquered Pompeii and installed a...

The area outside these panels is covered with geometric mosaics of different patterns. (NOTE: For detailed descriptions of the individual mosaics, see the individual records for "Pasiphae and Daedalus" and "Triumph of Dionysus").